Sydney 2023

Ah, finally, my first round of travel after many years of staying put! Though, with pigeons to look after now, I hadn't actually thought about planning any trips, instead, this just happened to be a work trip where I tacked a few extra days for myself to explore.

What does Sydney look like post COVID? How much of what I remember would still be there? How many of my favourite places would have closed down?

This time I was staying with my brother, and so I was super close to the city - it was nice walking everywhere and re-familiarising myself with everything. Central Park looks roughly the same, hello heliostat!

Dinner was a pretty epic feast at Ho Jiak, a Malaysian restaurant that is hip and tasty! We ordered some salted egg yolk squid, a KFC crispy rendang, sam wong dan (steamed eggs), roti, and har mee bombs. Wow, this was so good! I mean it was so expensive too, but it was so good! I actually haven't eaten steamed egg pudding in so long, and the century egg being in this one made it taste so good! There was actually also a "make it eggstravagant" or some similarly punny option where you could add salmon or trout roe at extra cost, but honestly it wasn't needed and I think it would have been over the top. Basic is best! The soup for the dumplings was so good too! The only one that I thought was so-so was the pork roti, I still like Mamak's roti the best!

It's cool that the Saturday night fireworks are still a thing, I can't believe so many people are here to see it! I forgot that so many people live in Sydney!

A random street party in the Redfern area? I thought it was pretty cool.

There was a book that caught my eye at my brother's place - of course something titled The Pigeon would be something I noticed! And I still haven't read the single Patrick Suskind book that I own; Perfume. Luckily The Pigeon is a short read and really wild! The amount of mental catastrophisation (is that a word?) upon seeing the pigeon is quite amazing.

Yay Paramount Coffee Project! I've missed this place so much. But you know what I've also missed? Good, "simple" coffee. This coffee was probably a washed Kenyan, which in itself sounds very everyday, but I get fed so much experimental/new age coffee these days by my baristas (thermal shock, carbonic maceration, extended fermentation) that I was actually really enjoying how easy drinking this batch brew was.

The food is also great! The avocado toast looked like a great treat since avocados have gone up in price again, and it goes so well with the LP pork sausage. I can't help but order the sausage every time because it's so tasty and it's so hard to get anything this good in Perth!

Then hopped over to Lode Pies, because I remembered just in time that this was a thing, and wow, look at this pretty pithivier! It is a very, very lovely pithivier! Extremely pretty pastry work and it tasted good too! I realised too late that you're supposed to pour the gravy in through the chimney at the top though haha, so my brother and I kind of just dipped or spooned the gravy onto the pieces we broke off with a spoon.

The spoon? That's the Artificer coffee spoon! Because we didn't realise we needed cutlery to cut open the pithivier lol. Luckily Artificer was close by, so it was perfect for coffee and pie!

And here comes some picture spam!

Oooh I haven't seen the bridge "open" in forever! And the Crown Tower in the background, that's new!

Dinner was then at Chaco Bar, which had moved shortly after my initial visit there. There's less of my favourite cuts of yakitori but it was still a good feed!

Room 10, or Pina, that was the dilemma the next morning! I decided to try Pina first, and wow, everything is pricey! I mean everything is pricey these days but for some reason I felt that this place was more expensive than others? On their menu they had an avocado on toast, which was $17 (for one slice), and then if you wanted a side of corn ribs, it would be an extra $13. Imagine an avocado and corn toast costing $30!

The scrambled eggs was pretty good, and made super tasty with the chilli oil that wasn't too hot and a little bit sweet!

After that I had a great old adventure walking around Potts Point until I ran into the naval base, and then circled back around to the royal botanic gardens!

The goal today was to get to Charcoal Fish in Rose Bay. I decided to take a bus there to see what the trip was like via land, and it wasn't terribly exciting. The fish and chips, on the other hand, was tasty! It was so hard to decide if I wanted to try a cheeseburger or other things on the menu, I guess it just means one day I'll need to come back.

Just a couple of shops down there was a barber with a canary outside! Ever since owning pigeons and letting them roam around in a room, it's interesting to think about how many pet birds end up spending so much time in cages. Of course, I have no idea if maybe they let this canary out at other times of day, but always food for thought!

I opted for ferry on the way back, and that was definitely the way to go! It was a very fun and it was cool to see the warships that I spotted earlier that day!

I did a quick stopover at Sample Coffee, trying not to consume too much coffee. Last time I was here, they stocked Penny Fours croissants, but this time they stocked Tuga Pastries. Penny Fours was relocating or renovating at the time so I couldn't get a fix of my favourite croissant. The Tuga ones were pretty good too though!

Every time I visit Sydney, the one thing I don't miss at all is the humidity. It wasn't actually super hot on any given day, but I was sweating so much. Chaco Ramen was definitely on the books, and I had my eye on their cold ramen! They had been selling a yuzu prosciutto cold ramen, but I wasn't sure it'd still be on the menu. Alas, no, but that was ok! This was the tomato truffle cold ramen, and it was great! The umeboshi in the middle gave it a well needed and amazing zing, and that tomato had really good flavour too. I love good tomatoes, they really are the best. I also added an extra scallop because why not!

Ah my old favourite - make your own toast with tomato, avocado, ocean trout. Can't get enough of this combo!

Since I was here for work some days, I got put up in a hotel close by! What an amazing view!

Toby's Estate's flagship cafe was also high on my place to visit, and they have such a fancy coffee menu now! In fact, I've noticed that most places on my list have extensive coffee menus these days. It's quite nice, but also bad for my wallet because of all the nice coffees on offer!

I tried their marshmallow brownie espresso and a filter from Myanmar. That Myanmar coffee was super nice! I'd also taken a really terrible shot of the breakfast food, which was a pastrami and egg roll - it was really good!

Some Belles Hot Chicken for dinner!

Only Coffee Project was one that one of my Perth baristas suggested I visit. They have some unique roasters on offer! A good selection of Sey and Onyx coffee, and a few other roasters too.

I was also curious if the Rockpool Bar and Grill Sydney David Blackmore full blood wagyu burger was as delicious as I remembered. It used to be my absolute favourite high end burger, but my last visit was underwhelming. This time, the service was ok, but the burger... was not that amazing? I am also sure that the burger is cheaper than it was several years ago. Did the sale to Hunter St Hospitality change several things about the place? This burger was not as delicious as I remember it to be anymore, it used to be juicier, with a better balance of flavours? Something for me to think about.

I finally made it back to my parents' place and look! My Reinium is alive and well!

Marrickville is so hip right now (did I say that last time too?), and both Ona and Marrickville Pork Roll are the must visits for me! Because of how much coffee I was going to consume, it was important to make sure I got enough food! How good is this chia pudding!

Such yummy coffee! I do enjoy reading through Ona's coffee menu, and it's hard to stick to only 3-4 choices. I definitely wanted an espresso, I seem to have extremely specific preferences for espresso, and the Interstellar option was right down my alley! $28 for an espresso is pretty crazy still, though it was a Panama Geisha extended carbonic natural process.

The flat white was the hardest choice; there was an Aussie coffee on the menu from Crater Mountain Estate, but I wanted the caffeine free filter plus one of the fancy coffees. As a result, the Aussie coffee went into my flat white. It was certainly not what I was expecting! It was very bold and the acidity did blend nicely, but because I like my milky coffees milky, it wasn't quite for me - I would have preferred to try it back.

The caffeine free filter - Colombia La Fantasia, Castillo varietal, carbonic natural process - I call it that because that's how it was labelled, and there was another one that was labelled as <1% caffeine. Not sure why the two had slightly different nomenclatures, but the caffeine free coffee was tasty! Not quite as bright as I'm hoping non caffeine coffees can be one day, but it did allow me to consume extra coffee and not feel terrible.

The final coffee I tried was the Bolivia finca Floripondio, another geisha, with an experimental natural process. I do enjoy coffees from "less common" regions. It was a great visit, and I'm glad it's only a sometimes thing, otherwise I'd be completely broke!

After the chia pudding, half a Marrickville pork roll was just right. But the shop moved!! Next door!! I do miss the dingy-ness of the little shop, now it's too shiny for the area, though at least it means that the branding is consistent with the city store. Some change is good!

Since I was full and caffeinated, I walked around the area for a bit and saw Kurumac on the map. Why yes, let's be cool at Kurumac! I managed to order a matcha orange juice, an unusual drink, that was quite nice and refreshing. Unfortunately I managed to order what I felt like was the largest dish on the menu, the salmon don. It was tasty but I was so full!

Yeah ok I said I was full, and I'd bussed it to Newtown to walk from there. I remember a little shop that sold tofu ice cream, which doesn't seem to be there anymore. But, I think it might be that exact location, that Mapo Gelato has now popped up on. I guess I had to try a scoop! Watermelon and lime, a great combo!

I was so full for so long, and being a Friday, I wasn't sure what to do about dinner. How do I get a small nibble? My thoughts lead me to Gildas, where I had a great set of snacks!

I love Steam Tank! Had to visit it and I'm so happy that it survived COVID! I accidentally made the baristas make a new batch brew - I asked about a roaster I hadn't seen before, Headlands Coffee, and the barista said she hadn't made it with that coffee, but somehow, I interpreted that as she hadn't made any batch brew at all that day, so... I asked in a politely insisting manner whether or not she could make a batch with the Headlands coffee. Oops! It wasn't till later that I realised they already had another batch on! I am still not sure it's the most popular drink so I felt bad and thanked them profusely afterwards!

I visited a friend and her family, which includes two cats! How cute are they!

Woah a rice cake shop! We went out for lunch I had requested Korean food, most of the restaurants were packed but we found a little shop that was empty so we ate there. It was tasty, but the kimchi wasn't spicy??? Anyway, I spotted a rice cake shop and had to buy treats from there! I think I was super full and the items were pretty plentiful, but the mugwort injeolmi and a doggy rice cake (a rice cake with a dog print on it) were nice and had great texture!

Apparently this is a Michelin starred milk tea shop, I had no idea such a thing existed! There's always a queue outside of it, and other people mentioned it too, so I decided I should try it out. Forking so much money for something that tasted like... taro milk tea with bubbles. LOL. It was nice to see the not-espresso machines putting out tea for the drinks, and there was definitely chunks of taro in there, so maybe it's good because it's made of real stuff.

On Sunday, I made to the final Josh Niland establishment that's currently open! Petermen is his newest restaurant, and Crows Nest is far more accessible for me compared to Paddington, so it was an easy decision to book the place and check it out. Sunday brunch was the most appealing and I figured it'd be the easiest to book. It was so fantastic but so expensive! I think I'm starting to that a lot now.

I also found my fivefingers intact! Yay!

Speaking of feet, I'm amazed at how much intense walking around Sydney actually takes it out of you. I don't think I'm too unfit, but since the streets are much hillier than Perth, and with the speed of my walking, I was actually feeling fatigue from pedestrianing (yes a made up word) which was a surprise! A good surprise.

Burwood has completely changed, not that I really knew it that well in the past. But it's hip and happening, and apparently it's the new Chinatown. People now don't visit the city that much anymore. There's so much delicious food here and a super popular noodle restaurant I should one day visit too. I had heard about a specialty coffee shop called Pillar coffee brewers so had to check them out! Here's the "weekend guy" casually searing some pork. The filters were really good, again, a nice extended coffee menu with tasty options!

Look at this gigantic radish!!

Tried out a cute looking sushi train in Town Hall. I figure I wouldn't post the usual suspects but here's some scallop frill salad and salted cucumber!

Multicolour dragonfruit tasting!

Good old Edition! I love their souffle pancakes!

I also took another picture of Super Bowl, for some reason it's a nice restaurant to take a photo of!

Parramatta is another changing suburb, and I haven't been back in decades. Homage was a noteworthy cafe to visit, and the staff there are really nice! Enjoyed their batch and they even plated up the chia pudding, how cute!

It's nice to see a tram line being installed, but I didn't find too much that piqued my interest here. It's mostly same same? New buildings here and there for sure, but it was also rainy so I didn't explore too much, only what I was already familiar with.

Circa Espresso has been around for ages, and finally I made it! As always on my trips, I was pretty overcaffeinated (again), but I played it safe with a flat white and a vege/nourish/wellness bowl too!

I returned back to Burwood; on my initial visit I was far too full to eat anything at all, so I had to come back again! I ate things on sticks, and so much fried chicken giblets. It's impossible to get offal in Perth, and I love how accessible it is in Sydney now!

And some random photos. The pigeon picture turned out to be a pretty interesting shot, because I had reason to think back to it when I went to Melbourne and dined at Komeyui!

RaRa Ramen! My brother said the vegan ramen was good and worth trying, and why not! Except I think I got some poisoning from eating so much fried offal earlier or something, at first I thought maybe it was overcaffeination, but later on I was pretty sure I had mild food poisoning. Not enough to stop me from enjoying most of my meal! The tomatoes... I really like good tomatoes, but these tomatoes were okay tomatoes. Isn't it interesting that so many tomatoes out there are ordinary? They're meant to be so tasty and not just one dimensional watery sour things. Everything else about this ramen was great though!

And lucky last visit in Sydney was good old Single O, and just in time for their 20th birthday celebrations too! It's so great to see a cafe like this still doing so well in a market that's now saturated with specialty coffee.

A great feed every time! And now to head to the other coffee capital :D